Asus Eee PC 1005HA-MU17-BU 10.1-Inch Intel Atom Netbook Computer (Royal Blue)

Asus Eee PC 1005HA-MU17-BU 10.1-Inch Intel Atom Netbook Computer (Royal Blue) Review

The ASUS "Eee PC 1005HA-MU17-BK Netbook" is exactly what I was looking for in a highly portable PC. I work from home full time and am always on-call (often have to work off-hours or weekends\Holidays) so it is necessary for me to always have access to a PC, especially when traveling. My work issued full-sized Thinkpad T62 really is too big to use in tight spaces (like in a car, but not when driving :-) or on a fast food restaurant table, so after much research selected this ASUS Netbook as a portable solution. Here are my observations:

Setup -
* Box included the Netbook, Battery, Instructions, Power Supply, and a CD (didn't need to use)
* First time powering it on took about 20 minutes to configure the options (language, time, etc) and self-configure Windows 7
* Detected my home Wi-Fi and asked for security key
* Automatically ran the included security software and that was it

Pros -
+ Size; big enough to still have a functional screen and keyboard yet small enough to be easily carried
+ Inexpensive; since my company was not paying for this, it had to be affordable
+ Wi-Fi; supports 802.11a\g\n so it can connect wirelessly to the Internet (I also "My-Fi" it to my Sprint HTC EVO)
+ Built In Camera; has very acceptable .3mp webcam that is useful when using Skype (I have a daughter away at college)
+ Long Battery Life; the included battery can actually last run for 8 hours and I also picked up AGPtek 7200mAh Laptop Battery For ASUS Eee-PC 1001 1101HA 1101HGO 1005 1005H 1005HA 1005HAB Series Laptops P/N: Al32 AL31-1005
+ Large Hard Drive; 250gb is a good sized drive in a Netbook
+ Little "Bloatware"; does not come with a lot of pre-installed junk that I would have to delete
+ Fast Booting; literally under a minute
+ Good Tech Support; I had a problem with the webcam on my first one, ASUS tech support quickly diagnosed the problem and Amazon did a "Next Day" replacement!

Cons -
- Can have a little keyboard lag when multiple windows\applications are running, but that is to be expected with only 1gb of memory (UPDATE 9/3/2010 - Installed Crucial 2GB 256Mx64PC2-5300 CT25664AC667 DDR2 200-Pin SODIMM Laptop Memory and it made a big improvement in performance)

Misc -
* Black finish really is finger print magnet
* Windows 7 Starter has a little bit of a learning curve, but not too bad with a little playing
* No built in CD\DVD drive, I use a Samsung USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive for Mac and PC SE-S084C/RSBN (Gloss Black) when needed
* Has 3 USB Ports, VGA Monitor Connector (no HDMI), and an Ethernet Port (didn't test)

Having the proper expectations is important when choosing a Netbook, it is not a "Powerhouse Gaming PC" (nor is it priced like one), but it is a perfectly functional travel PC that is a real value for the features it includes.

Highly Recommended!

CFH

Asus Eee PC 1005HA-MU17-BU 10.1-Inch Intel Atom Netbook Computer (Royal Blue) Feature

• Intel Atom N270 (1.60GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, FSB 533MHz)
• 1 GB SODIMM memory
• 10.1" WSVGA (1024x600) Wide Screen LCD
• Integrated Graphics Controller; Shared w/ system memory
• 250 GB HDD

Asus Eee PC 1005HA-MU17-BU 10.1-Inch Intel Atom Netbook Computer (Royal Blue) Overview

Asus Eee PC 1005HA-MU17-BU 10.1 inch Intel Atom N270/1 GB/250 GB/W7S Netbook Computer (Royal Blue)

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 19, 2010 00:54:05